turmeric and tamarack
Two words that I can never, ever remember when I'm looking at the objects in question. We had a tamarack tree in our back yard for years and no matter how many times I'd see it, I'd go blank if I tried to use it in a sentence. I'd call it 'the bird tree' for the sparrows that liked to ride it in the wind.
Now that the tree is gone, no problem remembering its name. Unless I'm looking at a picture of that particular tree. Same goes for turmeric. I usually refer to it as 'that spice that's not cumin'.
What do these two words have in common? Other than string with the same letter and the same number of syllables, not much. Oh that, and I've sustained a concussion or two right around the time period that both words were 'introduced' to my vocabulary. Not that I hadn't known or used them before, but thu became relevant to my everyday context: we planted the tamarack the summer we moved in; I took a blow to the head during a hockey game that shattered my helmet that winter. Similar situation with my discovery that a spice cupboard contains more than just salt, pepper, and garlic.
Some days, this losing words frankly scares the crap out of me, because what else can't I remember? Oddly, when I rule out lack of sleep, or stess, or allergy-induced fog, it always comes back to these two words gone AWOL.
Which brings me to Walter's abuse of Astrid's name. I won't argue that later in the series, it became a running joke as other writers came on board, but what always struck me in the first, and possibly into the second season, was that Walter struggles when he's addressing Astrid. Even after Peter's reminded him that she does have a name that isn't 'Miss!' Or 'You! Girl!'. The reason, I've always wondered for this, is that Walter first meets Astrid right after his release from the mental institution, where not only has he been undergoing shock therapy, but also has had part of his brain removed. Taking into account the stress surrounding his release (manifested through a number of physical traits, such as his clutching his left hand, for example), the introduction imprints on one of the damaged areas of his brain. And it never quite sticks right. He knows her name, he knows what it isn't, but he can't quite make the mental record of her name line up with the visual record when she's standing right in front of her. He knows it starts with an 'A', he knows its got two syllables, but the rest is just out of reach.
He hasn't got the problem with Peter or Olivia's names because they've been imprinted previously and have a much deeper, if yet unknown, emotional resonance to them in the first two seasons. Even Broyles doesn't imprint on him the same way - he's not emotionally important to Walter in the beginning, so referring to him as 'Agent' is good enough for Walter, when he even acknowledges that he's met him before. Broyles, as a friend or ally, doesn't register until much later for Walter. But Astrid is important, and his day to day contact with her reinforces that record of her name in that damage part of his brain where it first imprinted.
Interestingly enough, when I see a bottle of turmeric in somebody else's kitchen, I never forget what it's called. Brains are strange that way, eh?
Also posted at DW, where
people have commented. Comments welcome here or there.
Now that the tree is gone, no problem remembering its name. Unless I'm looking at a picture of that particular tree. Same goes for turmeric. I usually refer to it as 'that spice that's not cumin'.
What do these two words have in common? Other than string with the same letter and the same number of syllables, not much. Oh that, and I've sustained a concussion or two right around the time period that both words were 'introduced' to my vocabulary. Not that I hadn't known or used them before, but thu became relevant to my everyday context: we planted the tamarack the summer we moved in; I took a blow to the head during a hockey game that shattered my helmet that winter. Similar situation with my discovery that a spice cupboard contains more than just salt, pepper, and garlic.
Some days, this losing words frankly scares the crap out of me, because what else can't I remember? Oddly, when I rule out lack of sleep, or stess, or allergy-induced fog, it always comes back to these two words gone AWOL.
Which brings me to Walter's abuse of Astrid's name. I won't argue that later in the series, it became a running joke as other writers came on board, but what always struck me in the first, and possibly into the second season, was that Walter struggles when he's addressing Astrid. Even after Peter's reminded him that she does have a name that isn't 'Miss!' Or 'You! Girl!'. The reason, I've always wondered for this, is that Walter first meets Astrid right after his release from the mental institution, where not only has he been undergoing shock therapy, but also has had part of his brain removed. Taking into account the stress surrounding his release (manifested through a number of physical traits, such as his clutching his left hand, for example), the introduction imprints on one of the damaged areas of his brain. And it never quite sticks right. He knows her name, he knows what it isn't, but he can't quite make the mental record of her name line up with the visual record when she's standing right in front of her. He knows it starts with an 'A', he knows its got two syllables, but the rest is just out of reach.
He hasn't got the problem with Peter or Olivia's names because they've been imprinted previously and have a much deeper, if yet unknown, emotional resonance to them in the first two seasons. Even Broyles doesn't imprint on him the same way - he's not emotionally important to Walter in the beginning, so referring to him as 'Agent' is good enough for Walter, when he even acknowledges that he's met him before. Broyles, as a friend or ally, doesn't register until much later for Walter. But Astrid is important, and his day to day contact with her reinforces that record of her name in that damage part of his brain where it first imprinted.
Interestingly enough, when I see a bottle of turmeric in somebody else's kitchen, I never forget what it's called. Brains are strange that way, eh?
Also posted at DW, where
people have commented. Comments welcome here or there.